SC gets hold of ‘missing’ police report in Dohle case

Arun Dohle, an Indian adopted by a German couple 37 years ago, has disputed a police report which omitted the name of NCP leader Sharad Pawar’s brother, Pratap, as having any connection with him. Dohle has been searching for his biological roots, particularly his mother.

The report that “could not be traced” at the last hearing was submitted to the Supreme Court on Thursday. A bench of justice Markandeya Katju and justice TS Thakur perused the report and observed that it did not mention anything about Dohle’s connection with Sharad Pawar or Pratap Pawar.

Dohle’s lawyer contested the report, saying that the police inquiry was “a sham and misleading.” Submitting Dohle’s birth certificate to the judges, he added, “It is a whitewash.”

Dohle’s lawyer did not spare Kusumbai Motichand Mahila Seva Gram in Pune, the orphanage from where German couple Michael and Gertrude Dohle, adopted his client when he was two months old.

He read out a recent letter written by Michael, stating details of the adoption process. The letter made it evident that Pratap Pawar had played an important role in Dohle’s adoption, the lawyer added.

He said that Dohle got a DNA test done after getting the hair sample of one of Pawar’s nephews. The result showed 93.6% probability of there being a connection between him and Pratap. Dohle has been in search of his biological mother ever since he returned to India in 2003. He alleged that the ashram rebuffed him when he sought information about his mother.